Archive for the ‘Black History’ Category

The third weekend in June is impacted by two seemingly unrelated holidays; Fathers’ Day and Juneteenth. More people remember Fathers’ Day because every human being has a biological father, regardless of the circumstances of conception.

On the other hand, Juneteenth, AKA Jubilee and Emancipation Day, is a US holiday commemorating the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas on June 19, 1865, and the emancipation of African-American slaves throughout the Confederate South. Juneteenth is celebrated during “Fathers’ Day Weekend” in America.

Today, there is still a captive class of human beings. They are “slaves” to choice and are treated as property to be discarded at will. The vulnerable and pre-born babies in the womb don’t have a voice and are dying by abortion.

Thus today the Prolife Civil Rights Movement is the vehicle for their emancipation.

In 2010, Civil Rights for the Unborn (CRU) took Pro-Life Freedom Rides to Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. For eleven years, we’ve been proclaiming Jubilee for unborn babies, mothers, families and America. Of one blood, God created all people. Life is a Civil Right. We proclaim civil rights for the unborn!

Join us on June 17, 2016 from 12:00-2:00 PM EST as we tweet for the unborn. Use the hash tags #FreetheBabiesServetheMothers and #Juneteenth2016 and show your support for Life.

Every born and unborn person deserves human dignity and God’s justice.

Where peripherals collide, convergence is imminent. Let’s connect Juneteenth and Fathers’ Day together with two words, unity and love. We need to unite in praying for love for our fathers, and our children.

There are many mixed emotions surrounding the occasion of Fathers’ Day because sometimes personal circumstances surrounding our relationships with our natural fathers can be complicated, even in the best of times. In remembering my father, grandfather and uncle this season, I believe this blog by Kevin Burke as well as this prayer below from Priests for Life can bring Jubilee to our hearts regarding our natural fathers:

A Prayer for Fathers
By Father Frank Pavone

“Almighty God, you have taught us that you are the Father of us all, And that all fatherhood takes its origin from you.

You protect us from evil
And provide our daily bread.
You are strength and integrity, blessing and the font of life.

We thank you, then, for our fathers.
Though human, they are also a reflection of you, Lord God.
They are your gift to us.

We pray for all fathers today.
May they realize the greatness of their vocation
And have the strength to live it without fear.
Forgive their sins, and keep their eyes raised up to you

To those who still make this earthly journey with us,
Give us the grace to love them as we should;
And to those whom you have called from this life,
Give a special place of honor in the heavenly kingdom
With you, the Father of all.

NEW YORK – Priests for Life today announces the expansion and re-naming of its over-a-decade-old pro-life outreach to African Americans.

Now called Civil Rights for the Unborn, The African American Outreach of Priests for Life, the project will continue to be led by longtime activist Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and daughter of A.D. King.

“Our new name reflects what Priests for Life’s African American Outreach program has always been – an arm of the civil rights movement to which my family has dedicated our lives,” said Dr. King. “On this last day of Black History Month, we reaffirm that, acting under the banner Civil Rights for the Unborn, we will clearly and forcefully continue to heighten awareness in the black community that civil rights begin when life begins.”

Over the last 10 years, Priests for Life’s outreach program to African Americans has worked nationally with other civil rights activists on numerous efforts, including organizing the Pro-Life Freedom Rides, protesting convicted murderer Kermit Gosnell’s “House of Horrors” abortion clinic, and publicizing “Tonya Reaves Could Have Been Me,” the consciousness-raising campaign that grew from the tragic death of a young African American woman who died from an abortion.

This year again, Priests for Life and Civil Rights for the Unborn will work hard to make sure voters keep the life issue in the forefront as they choose the next president of the United States.

“My prayer is that we elect a pro-life president,” Dr. King said. “Nothing is more important.”

Commenting on the expanded outreach of Civil Rights for the Unborn, Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life said, “The right to life is both a civil right and the foundation of all other civil rights. With Alveda’s leadership, Civil Rights for the Unborn will proclaim these truths to the African American community, which has been so disproportionately devastated by abortion.”

Priests for Life is the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.

Dr. Alveda King plaintiff in Priests for Life Challenge to HHS Mandate

NEW YORK — Forty-nine years after Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a petitioner in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, his niece, Dr. Alveda King, will appear as a plaintiff in the same court.

In 1967, Rev. King sought to overturn his 1963 conviction for violating a Birmingham, AL, ordinance by leading a public demonstration without a permit.

This year, Dr. Alveda King is a plaintiff in Priests for Life vs. HHS, a case that seeks to block the Obama administration from enforcing the HHS Mandate. The mandate would force Priests for Life to cooperate with the government in expanding insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs and other objectionable “services.”

Both cases are about civil rights.

The Supreme Court ruled against Rev. King and upheld his conviction, but two years later the Birmingham ordinance was found to be unconstitutional. Alveda King, director of Civil Rights for the Unborn, the African-American Outreach of Priests for Life, is hoping justice will be swifter this time around.

“The people of the United States have a right to understand this,” she said. “The civil rights of every human being will be impacted by this decision. People forget that life is a civil right.”

Priests for Life objects to the mandate on religious liberty grounds, and finds it particularly offensive that a ministry formed specifically to fight abortion is being coerced to provide abortion-inducing drugs and devices to its employees.
“Life is a civil right,” Dr. King said. “In an abortion, you violate the rights of the baby.”

Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, noted that this month’s observance of Black History Month is a perfect time to highlight the King family in the Supreme Court.

“It’s historic that a member of the King family is once again defending civil rights in the U.S. Supreme Court,” Father Pavone said.

Dr. King said the nation has come a long way in recognizing the civil rights of African-Americans but has a long way still to go in recognizing that those rights begin in the womb.

“We are reminding Christians everywhere, of all races, ethnicities and creeds, that we must stand together and unite to protect the civil rights of all,” she said. “That includes the babies in the womb.”

Priests for Life is the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.

“Kevin has been a source of insight regarding the impact of and connection to abortion and the role of the father figure in the life of a little girl who grows up to become a mother. I hope that his blog will bless many with the same insight with which Kevin has blessed me.” – Dr. Alveda C. King, Director of African American Outreach for Priests for Life

The King Family shared in a special way in the legacy of triumph and tragedy that marked the Civil Rights movement in the tumultuous decades of the 1950’s and 1960’s. It is widely known that their non-violent, prayerful resistance was a cornerstone of the strategy to dismantle the systemic structures of racism and violence that plagued so many African Americans. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. and his brother A.D. King were very visible leaders of this movement. They embodied some of the best qualities of manly and fatherly leadership in their struggle for the civil rights of all Americans, especially the weakest and powerless in our society.

Where did these men find the courage and develop those Gospel-rooted values that led them to be such powerful advocates for the oppressed?

A lesser known part of the King Family legacy is the witness of Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr. Many years before the Civil Rights movement and his son Martin’s famous “I have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, Granddaddy King was already a strong advocate for the vulnerable and powerless. Thirteen years before that iconic speech in Washington D.C., Granddaddy King also had his own very special dream.

Dr. Alveda King is the daughter of A.D. King and Niece of Martin Luther King. Alveda gives us a glimpse into the heart and soul of her grandfather:

In 1950 my mother was pregnant with me and scared. She was looking for a doctor to perform a D&C abortion procedure. Granddaddy King told my mother:

“They (Planned Parenthood) are lying to you. That is not a lump of flesh. That’s my granddaughter. I saw her in a dream three years ago. She has bright skin and bright red hair and she’s going to bless many people.”

Research confirms that a father or grandfather’s reaction to an unplanned pregnancy is a significant influence on the mother’s decision to parent or abort the child.(1) Thankfully Granddaddy King stood up and defended the life of his unborn grandchild. Granddaddy and Alveda’s father promised to help her through that first unexpected pregnancy and Alveda was born to A. D. and Naomi Ruth Barber King on January 22, 1951. Over the years, Alveda’s mother recovered from her anger, finding grace in her relationship with Jesus Christ.

Years later the King family would lead millions of African Americans to great victories over the forces of racism. Granddaddy King’s famous sons would peacefully but powerfully advocate for the poor and oppressed African Americans whose civil rights, economic opportunity and God given dignity were being aborted by the institutionalized evil of racism.

Yet they also suffered a number of causalities. A.D. King died in a suspicious and tragic drowning accident a year after the assassination of his brother Martin Luther King. The death of Alveda’s father inflicted a deep wound on Alveda’s heart and soul at the same time the sexual revolution and abortion rights were in rapid ascent. Alveda shares:

During those years of my life, I made some scared and angry decisions, including having two of what was presented to me as “safe and legal abortions.” The first procedure was an involuntary abortion. The pro -abortion philosophy was empowering physicians to use their considerable influence to advocate for abortion. Sometimes they simply took matters in their own hands and boldly played God with vulnerable women and their unborn children.

Shortly before the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 I went to my doctor to ask why my monthly cycle had not resumed after the birth of my son. I did not ask for and did not want an abortion. The doctor said, “You certainly don’t need to be pregnant…let’s take a look.” He proceeded to perform a painful examination which resulted in a gush of blood and tissue emanating from my womb. He explained that he had performed a “local D and C.”

Sadly, the rise of pro abortion feminism was empowering men to embrace values that were radically different than those modeled by Granddaddy King and his famous sons. Rather than defending and protected the powerless entrusted to their care, men were being corrupted by the philosophy and practice of abortion rights and the rhetoric of choice.

Just a few short years after Martin Luther King was assassinated for his mission to protect and empower those oppressed by racism, black fathers were now participating in the death of their unborn black children; the same children that Dr Martin Luther King dreamed would one day live in a country “where children…will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” (Speech of MLK 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.)

Alveda:I never was able to process the trauma from that forced abortion. Soon after the Roe v. Wade decision, I became pregnant again. There was adverse pressure and threat of violence from the baby’s father now that abortion was legal and readily accessible. The ease and convenience provided through Roe v. Wade made it too easy for me to make the fateful and fatal decision to abort our child.

Granddaddy King saved Alveda’s life in 1950. Twenty-five years later he once again stood tall and reached out to Alveda, now reeling after 2 unresolved abortion losses, to pull back from the precipice of deeper death and destruction:

Alveda:Granddaddy MLK, Sr. rescued me again in 1975. He and my son’s father promised to help me if I wouldn’t abort my next baby. I believed them, thank God.

But Alveda would still suffer the after affects of her abortion losses. She shares about the Shockwaves of Abortion and their impact on her life and family:

Over the next few years, I experienced medical problems. I had trouble bonding with my son, and his five siblings who were born after the abortions. I began to suffer from eating disorders, depression, nightmares, sexual dysfunctions and a host of other issues related to the abortion that I chose to have. I felt angry about both abortions, and very guilty about the abortion I chose to have. The guilt made me very ill.

My children have all suffered from knowing that they have a brother or sister that their mother chose to abort. Often they ask if I ever thought about aborting them and have said, “You killed our baby.” This is very painful for all of us. Also, my mother and grandparents were very sad to know about the loss of the baby. The aborted child’s father also regrets the abortion. If it had not been for Roe v. Wade, I would never have had that abortion. Thankfully, through God’s merciful healing we continue to recover and heal as a family from the pain and loss of those abortion losses.

When you look at the sacrifice and legacy of the King family in their battle for racial equality and justice, it is truly an abomination for Planned Parenthood and other abortion advocates to spread the propaganda that abortion is a woman’s civil right. The struggle for civil rights for African Americans was a movement led by men and women who were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice; they were ready to take a courageous stand and if necessary give their lives for those oppressed by racism and violence. Granddaddy King and his sons Martin Luther and A.D. King, and many other brave African American men embodied this model of manhood and fatherhood.

As we come to another Father’s Day celebration, let’s remember these men and emulate their values and sacrifice. Let us pray for those minority communities that have been especially targeted by abortion providers, and the fathers, mothers and families that have been devastated by the Shockwaves of Abortion.

“The Negro cannot win as long as he is willing to sacrifice the lives of his children for comfort and safety.”– Dr Martin Luther King
______________________________________
1. Aborted Women: Silent No More, David Reardon, Loyola University Press, Chicago, 1987

For decades, the liberal camp has stirred up the emotions of the African American Community with reminders of our victimization from first slavery and then segregation and racism. Yet, in the midst of all our oppression, we have always managed to rise to the surface, and even ascend to the peaks of promise, stepping over the boulders of despair that would try to hold us back.

My grandfather, Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr. often quoted his mentor Dr. Benjamin E. Mays. During his lifetime, Dr. Mays was President of Morehouse College in Atlanta. Many of the men of our family, including Daddy AD King and Uncle ML King, like Granddaddy, are “Morehouse Men.”

Dr. Mays would say: “No one can ride your back unless it is bent.” Granddaddy always taught us to “stand up straight and walk tall because God is on our side.”

When I hear Mrs. Senator Hillary Clinton or Mrs. Michelle Obama, or Al Sharpton, or other leading speakers stir up memories of racial unrest and oppression, even when they are pointing out the obvious current racial overtones and undertones that Blacks in America are still facing, I don’t hear hope. They don’t offer solutions, only more anger, pain and despair.

As a survivor of the 20th Century Race Wars, my back remains unbent, and I move forward for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all who were created equal in God’s eyes.

In my book KING RULES, I write about the “Beloved Community” our legacy embraces. I write about Acts 17:26, where we discover that the human race is born of “one blood.” So we are not even “separate races.” This reminds us that what Uncle ML said is true: “We must all learn to live together as brothers [and sisters] or perish as fools.”

Please, someone, remind speakers like Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Clinton that the answer to racial strife and confusion, in fact to all human issues, will always be love and nonviolent conflict resolution.

Kitchen table issues affect the rich and the poor alike. How will we feed our families, how will we educate our children, how will we manage successful career strategies, how will we improve our quality of life? It doesn’t matter how much we are able to pay for these benefits. The American Dream is that everyone will have some form of satisfaction, free from fear of danger, poverty and harm.

“We can’t hate white people. They live with us, march with us, pray with us, and die with us.” Rev. Alfred Daniel Williams (AD) King in 1968

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Just when you think you know everything, God sends you back to school. This is definitely the case for me right now. I just returned from the 50th Anniversary of Selma and Bloody Sunday, where my daddy, Rev. A. D. King was among those who were on the bridge that day. President Obama, Congressman John Lewis and thousands of others preceded my visit the day before. The President delivered a rousing and soul stirring speech. In what has become my custom, I delivered a controversial response on FOX NEWS. http://video.foxnews.com/v/4099142696001/

The next day, my daughter Celeste and I boarded a ML King Center bus caravan and headed to Marion, AL , the birthplace of civil rights martyr Jimmie Lee Jackson. We arrived at Mt. Zion Baptist Church and were greeted by Ms. Shirley Jackson, Jimmie Lee’s cousin. We were given the historical account: on February 18, 1965, while participating in a peaceful voting rights march in Marion, Jimmie Lee was beaten by troopers and shot by Alabama State Trooper James Bonard Fowler. Jackson was unarmed. The hospital in Marion denied him treatment, and he was taken to Selma and died eight days later in the hospital there.

His death was part of the inspiration for the Selma to Montgomery marches in March 1965, a major event in the American Civil Rights Movement that helped gain Congressional passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The now historical “Bloody Sunday” opened the door to millions of African Americans being able to vote again in Alabama and across the South, regaining participation as citizens in the political system for the first time since the turn of the 20th century, having been disenfranchised by state constitutions and discriminatory practices.

From there, our bus tour joined the march to the Edmund Pettus Bridge. On the way out of town later that day, we visited the SCLC Women’s Monument to Viola Luizzo the 39 year old housewife and mother of five who heeded the call of my uncle MLK, and traveled from Detroit, Michigan to Selma, Alabama in the wake of the Bloody Sunday attempt at marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. She participated in the successful Selma to Montgomery marches and helped with coordination and logistics. Driving back from a trip shuttling fellow activists to the Montgomery airport, she was shot by members of the Ku Klux Klan. My mother Naomi King later befriended Viola’s daughter. My mother often travels to Selma and visits the memorial site of Viola.

We also viewed a screening of the video about Dr. MLK’s leadership role in the SELMA campaign.

Then on the bus, the young students from ML King High School and ML King Middle School gave oral reports of what they had learned on the trip. They learned that the Civil Rights Movement wasn’t about skin color, it was about God’s love for all people, and the need to regard every human being as someone God loves. They learned that many white people along with black people were hurt and killed during the SELMA demonstrations. We all learned a lot.

I was reminded that human rights are about God’s love. That God’s word and God’s way is best. That hate only begets hate. Love never fails. This wasn’t my first visit to Edmund Pettus Bridge. I had joined several prolife colleagues a few years before to observe Bloody Sunday and to remind people that millions of aborted babies would never be allowed to vote. This isn’t a popular part of the memories, but it must be said.

I guess the biggest lesson for me is that it’s time to throw in the deck for the race card, and start using the God card. Freedom after all, is for everyone.

Dr. Alveda King, Director of African American Outreach for Priests for Life, will join hundreds of people from around the world at the Selma50 observance on Sunday, March 8.

“They were marching for the right to vote back then. Hundreds of us will march to commemorate the price many paid, some with their lives, for the right for African-Americans to vote,” she said. “I will be marching and praying also for America to wake up to the fact that since 1973 over 55 million babies, about 18 million of them Black, have been legally aborted in America. They died before they were able to grow up and vote. There is a connection here. As my Uncle ML once said: ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,’ said Dr. King.

Alveda recalls her father, Rev. A.D. King, coming home from Selma 50 years ago and telling his children how bad it was. By that time, she was already well versed in the strategy of non-violent protests, so she was not shaken by the events, even though she was just 14 years old.

“We were not afraid,” Alveda said. “We knew God was with us. We had to remain nonviolent and trust God. My mother, Naomi Ruth Barber King, an activist in her own rights, has befriended the daughter of Viola Liuzzo who lost her life shortly after Bloody Sunday, on March 25, as she drove a black man from Montgomery to Selma. Mother often talks about the courage of those who fought so valiantly during those days.”

All protesters were trained in methods of nonviolent conflict resolution before going out to march. They all even signed a covenant to follow the Ten Commandments of the civil rights movement. They never knew if they would live to see another day.

The first commandment was “Meditate daily on the teachings and life of Jesus.” The rest stressed following those teachings through nonviolent protest.

While Alveda didn’t march at Selma, she did first put her training to the test two years earlier when she participated in the 1963 Children’s Crusade March in Birmingham. That same year, on May 11, 1963, A.D. King’s home was bombed.

Alveda King said the thing she remembers most about the bombing was her father calming down the ensuing riot.

She recalls that AD grabbed a bullhorn and stood on top of a car and said “Don’t fight back; don’t throw rocks. If you’re going to kill somebody, kill me; but I’d rather you pray.”

Years later, after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, A.D. King used his words not to calm a riot, but to calm his daughter.

Alveda said she was “devastated by Uncle ML’s murder”, and even went so far as to want to hate someone. But her father helped her stay focused on nonviolence: “Alveda, White people marched with us, prayed with us, and died with us,” he said “The devil killed your uncle.”

Her father ADK, her famous uncle MLK, her grandparents MLK, Sr. and Alberta Williams King, and even her great grandparents were all Christian leaders who embraced the love of God, and nonviolent conflict resolution. One of the family’s major scripture foundations is derived from Acts 17:26: “Of one blood, God created all people to live on the earth.”

A year after the death of MLK, A.D. King was found dead in his swimming pool. While there was no water in his lungs, the cause of death was labeled as a drowning accident. Alveda “found the strength to carry on the King Family Legacy by faith in God and His love.”

Today Alveda King continues to fight for civil rights and is involved today, not only for continued racial equality, but for the rights of the unborn child.

Dr. Alveda King is a non-denominational minister, author of the book KING RULES, and is the Director of African-American Outreach with Priests for Life.

It’s Black History Month 2015. This is a time of remembering the many great contributions of African Americans in the history of our great nation. We have experienced many advances made possible from contributions from members of the African American Community. Beyond the familiar names that we hear every year, advances have been made by countless African American “unsung heroes” in every spectrum of the human experience. While we will never hear every name of these contributors to the tapestry of our lives, we can take comfort in knowing that they were born, and that they made the quality of our lives more meaningful. For this truth we should thank our God.

Generally as a people, African Americans have proven to be very resilient people, surviving the greatest obstacles of slavery and segregation which are part of the annals of our history. The current success of the movie SELMA pays great tribute to our heroes of these eras past. In many ways, we have overcome. There is reason to celebrate this truth.

Yet, here in the 21st century, we are faced with an epidemic that threatens the Black community, and indeed the entire fabric of our nation in a manner that has never before occurred in our history. In America since 1973, over 58 million people, nearly 36% of these numbers being identified as African American people, have been denied the right to be born. Their innocent lives were ended as they were attacked in the sanctuaries of their mothers’ wombs – by the heinous scourge of abortion.

Let’s include all of the other deaths of Blacks that have occurred by no fault of the victims throughout American history; Black slaves and Black people killed during the race wars that have occurred throughout the years. All of these occurrences are of course very tragic. We take pause now to remember the death of every innocent.

The key here is innocence. Slaves were innocent. The victims of the KKK are innocent. The babies in the womb are innocent. God hates the shedding of innocent blood. Please forgive me, I don’t mean to be maudlin. This after all is meant to be a tribute to Black History Month. I would suggest though, that this startling revelation, that abortion is part of African American history, deserves our attention; and our prayers. Please indulge me here by reviewing my recent Black History Month video:

Black History Month, or National African American History Month grew out of “Negro History Week;” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month.

While I have many Black History honorees on my list, I believe that Frederick Douglass, one of my favorite abolitionists, ranks high on my list, near my Granddaddy MLK, Sr., and my Uncle Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and my daddy Rev. A. D. King; both powerful freedom fighters in the 20th Century.

“I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nation’s destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes and at whatever cost.” Frederick Douglass

For me, Black History is just as American as July 4, and apple pie. Celebrating Black History Month helps us reflect back on how far we as a collective people have come. I celebrate Black History Month because it is part of the American Dream of my uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebrating Black History Month helps us to preserve a memory of “overcomers” like Douglass, MLK, my dad A. D. King, Tubman, Truth, and indeed every hero, sung and unsung, man, woman and child that has forged and bridged the gaps for future generations.

Some of my favorite models for tributary during Black History month are the Tuskegee Airmen, Madame C. J. Walker, Rosa Parks, the Black Slaves who helped to build the White House… The list is long, with people from every walk of life, and regarded with much gratitude that God granted each the courage to press on.

Please, as we come to a close of this blog, join me in prayer that one day history will remember not only that there was a Black History Month in America for a season, but that one day on earth there was a time when indeed every human being, born and pre-born, was awarded human dignity and the reality of a loving God Who as introduced in John 3:16 loved us all so much that He and His Son made the ultimate sacrifice, so that we can live forever.

Atlanta, GA — In response to several social media and general inquiries regarding the new SELMA movie release, Dr. Alveda C. King, gospel evangelist, pro-life and civil rights activist shares the following:

“An invitation to a pre-release screening of the movie SELMA brought mixed emotions to my heart, and tears to my eyes. As I sat in the theater, I was transported back to the time when my Uncle MLK, my Daddy AD King and so many civil rights icons were embroiled in the historical crosshairs that brought equity to the voting rights of Blacks in America. It was during that same season that Daddy’s and Mother’s church parsonage was bombed in Birmingham; and the little girls, one a classmate of mine, were killed in the bombing of the church. It was also the season of my first civil rights march, a “Children’s March” where Daddy and James Orange and others taught me the tenants of nonviolent protests.

“Even though I wasn’t on the team of consultants who worked with the producers, I’m glad the film is in the atmosphere. While SELMA is historically informative and entertaining, having lived through those days, I would have appreciated more historical accuracy. I know that everyone can’t be included in such projects, but on a personal note, I was saddened to find no mention of my Dad, who not only marched in Selma, but was also felled (and recovered) along with not only John Lewis, but with many others, including Hosea Williams and my dearly departed friend James Orange.

“So many people have contacted me regarding the overtones regarding references to Uncle ML’s responses to the attacks on his personal life. I have only this to say. Like all of the Bible heroes, Uncle was a human being, an imperfect man who served a perfect God. He and Daddy are in Heaven now, in the company with David, Moses, Paul, Rahab, The Woman at the Well, The Woman caught in the act… Uncle ML was a devoted prophet and Man of God. Need I say more?

Every year on June 19th, African-Americans celebrate “Juneteenth,” the anniversary of the day slavery was abolished in Texas in 1865.

Two centuries later, we have yet to connect the dots between the denial of African-Americans’ human rights through slavery to the denial of unborn children’s human rights through abortion. There is definitely a parallel between the Dred Scott and Roe v. Wade decisions.

June 19th is “Juneteenth,” marking the day in 1865 when two and a half years later word finally got to a group of slaves in Texas that they were free.

Yes, that was more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed by President Lincoln.

This wryly historic date is celebrated around the country today. While often dwarfed by the following July 4 celebrations, the event has all the trappings of a 4th of July party; and with good reason.

Independence and emancipation are very similar. We just had two parts of the country, and at different times, both with opposing beliefs, yet with varying people groups and ethnicities, fighting for freedom in different ways. But freedom for everybody ends up being the same.

And lest we forget, this year “sandwiched in” between Juneteenth and Independence Day will be July 2, the 50th Anniversary of the US Civil Rights Act. Let’s remember to stand against the harmful impact of abortion and carcinogenic birth control/fertility blockers that kill babies and their mothers. FREE THE BABIES! Let them live; it’s their civil right!

As Director of African American Outreach and a member of the National Black ProLife Coalition I get to work with some very special people who have devoted their lives to the abolishment of abortion. Two such people are my good friends Walter Hoye, II and Ryan Bomberger.

I’d like to share a blog from Walter and graphics designed by Ryan:

LESSON: “The Negro Is The Key Of The Situation”

“The passion of selfishness, murder and rebellion are fired by slavery; the physical strength of rebellion is found less in the attenuated arm of the slaveholder, than in the sinewy arm of steel, which wields, without wages, the hoe and spade on the plantation. All this is plain. The very stomach of this rebellion is the Negro in the condition of a slave. Arrest that hoe in the hands of the Negro, and you smite rebellion in the very seat of its life. Change the status of the slave from bondage to freedom, and you change the rebels into loyal citizens. The Negro is the key of the situation, the pivot upon which the whole rebellion turns.” — Frederick Douglass, Douglass’ Monthly, July, 1861 11

“This war, disguise it as they may, is virtually nothing more or less than perpetual slavery against universal freedom. The American people and Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time, but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end, that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery.” — Frederick Douglass 12

“Sound policy, not less than humanity, demands the instant liberation of every slave in the rebel states.” — Frederick Douglass, Douglass’ Monthly, July, 1861 13

BIG ABORTION is a business. A BILLION DOLLAR business. 14A business that views women and babies as commodities. A business where highly trained and licensed physicians and nurses, clean and well equipped medical facilities represent a drain on profits. A business where complying with the same public health and safety requirements as other surgical facilities negatively impacts the bottom line. A business where the “SUPER COIL“, a device inserted into a woman’s uterus, comprised of plastic razors spring loaded into a ball, coated into a gel, so that they would remain closed until the woman’s body temperature melts the gel, releasing the razors to cut up the mother’s fetus into pieces small enough to be expelled violently from her body is a good idea. 15A business where regular, legally mandated unannounced inspections by the Department of Health Services only serve as barriers to women seeking abortions and is viewed as bad policy. 16A business where a FATAL HEART ATTACK immediately following an abortion procedure is a therapeutic complication. 17A business where a woman can bleed for over five hours after a botched abortion procedure before emergency services are called, is still in business. 18A business where an abortion procedure can be botched and blown so badly that not even an award winning trauma center can stop the hemorrhaging and remove the remaining body parts of the woman’s baby from her uterus in time to save her life. 19A business where parents do not even possess a right to be notified that their minor daughter is undergoing such procedures. 20A business backed by the government of the United States of America to the tune of over half a billion tax dollars. 21A business that enjoys being publicly praised and blessed by the President of the United States of America while he criticizes state legislatures that have enacted strict health codes on abortion providers to ensure the health and safety of women. 22A business that has aborted 30% of the entire generation under 47 making up the biggest single reason for our sluggish economy. 23A business that has already cost us over $50 TRILLION DOLLARS in lost Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and this cost to future generations of the American public just keeps growing every year. 24A business founded by a well documented Klu Klux Klan speaker and one of the architects of the now infamous 1939 Negro Project that hired Black preachers to introduce birth control as a health option for Black women. 25A business where its LARGEST ABORTION PROVIDER targets both the Black and Latino populations by locating 79% of its surgical abortion facilities within walking distance of Black and Latino communities. 26A business that routinely performs 55% to 56% of its surgical abortions on Black and Latino women. 27A business where Black American women with prior induced abortion (IA) experiences have triple the risk of an early preterm birth (EPB) and four times the risk of an extremely early preterm birth (XPB) as non-Black American women and are viewed as collateral damage. 28A business that has watched the TOTAL FERTILITY RATE of Black Americans drop from 3.0 in 1970 to below the POPULATION REPLACEMENT LEVEL of 2.1 to 1.8 by 2012. 29A business that we need to end before it ends us, all of us.